Anything For You
by ResidentThatGuy
Summary: A catastrophic turn of events in Lilycove City leaves Ash in a horrible position...but he has to tell May something before it's too late. Meanwhile, May's heart breaks to see Ash how he is, but is it to late to save him? Advanceshipping, AshXMay, Aamayl, SatoHaru. Rated T for minor violence and sensitive topics toward the end.


_Author's Notes:_

_Yes, I am back! After many months and several painstaking phone calls, my iPad (Which I do nearly all of my writing on) had been repaired and is ready for use! Because it's __been a while since I've worked on my main project (Phoenix), I decided I'd get myself back into the swing of things with this one (Or possibly more) shot, depending on whether you guys want. I have a plan to continue it if such is desired._

_Originally, this story was supposed to be sappy as usual, and end with a something happy, but as I continued writing it, not paying attention to what I was doing and just free-writing, getting all the ideas down best I could (Which is how I write most of my original content), the darker, ominous ending that the final product has, came into play. It wasn't my intention, but I kind of like it, I don't do a lot of writing like this and it's fun to try something new. Furthermore, if you have an opinion as to whether or not to continue this story (Likely through 2 different endings), or to leave it as the one chapter it is already, let me know in a review, or message me. (But be sure to include whether or not you want spoilers in the message!)_

_In other news, I'll be updating The Phoenix Champion more now, since I have my main writing tool back in my possession, and hopefully it will be better than ever! I'm very excited about the future of that and all my stories. Sadly, I announce that the hiatus on my original story, Reclaim, will be extended until I am farther along in Phoenix._

_Lastly, thank you to my unofficial beta reader and friend, Nothingcow223, for painstakingly helpin__g me to revise the beginning of this story and pointing out a few grammatical errors I was not aware of._

_~The Resident That Guy_

* * *

May sat down on the bench near the training camp set out by the Pokémon center. She, her younger brother Max, Brock, and a certain Ash Ketchum, all of whom had been traveling with her throughout her journey through the Hoenn region, had arrived in Lilycove city three days ago, to prepare for Ash's upcoming Gym battle. Ash had been training for the majority of his down time, with May standing beside him.

"Bye May, I'll see you soon!" Max said, running off to catch up with Brock, who was standing farther away.

"We'll meet up later, for sure!" The level-headed former Gym Leader yelled out to Ash and May, who smiled and nodded, before Ash turned around and released his Pokémon for training, May turning back was well to remain with Ash as her brother and Brock left to explore the city.

Whilst Brock and Max had elected to go find out what there was to do for fun in the city, as they did not have any Gym battles or Pokémon contests on their horizons, May remained with Ash. When asked why she chose to always be with him, she would reply that she can learn a lot from him practicing to help her in her contests. Furthermore, she reasoned, if for some reason Ash or his Pokémon were to be injured during practice, it would be better for someone else to be near.

If only those who asked were to know she was lying through her teeth.

Now, it was indeed true that May spent some of her time with Ash practicing for her own Contests. But that was a rare occasion. She did, and was content doing so, watching him practice for hours upon hours, staring at him. She always made sure to look like she wasn't if he ever turned around, pausing from training to look at her.

As she stared at the young trainer commanding his Pokémon in beautiful fashions, she couldn't help but notice every detail about him. May couldn't deny it; she was hopelessly in love with the raven-haired boy. She had been, since they met, to be honest. But she had not the courage to speak up and tell him her true feelings. For, what if he left her? What if he didn't return her feelings, or worse, took it wrong and became angry with her?

If Ash were to leave her...no, she couldn't even think about that. She didn't know what she would do, and Ash would never leave a friend.

"_A friend…_" May thought. Is that all she was to him?

May's thoughts were shaken by a large explosion noise off in the distance followed by people screaming. She immediately looked up and saw Ash quickly returning his Pokémon to their respective Poké Balls before calling Pikachu to his shoulder and running off toward where May was.

"May, did you hear that?" He asked, with a grim expression highlighting his face in a shadow.

May nodded her head and stood up.

"We should probably check it out and see if there's anything we can do to help." Ash said confidently, his hands clenched in fists.

There he goes again, May thought. So selfless, his first thought always being to help someone else. It seemed like everything he did made him seem more perfect. Before May knew it, she and Ash were running through the streets trying to get to the area.

It was 10 minutes before they arrived, and what they saw shocked them. A large balloon loomed overhead, in the shape of an all too familiar Meowth face.

"Now all you little Twerps, hand over your Pokémon or we'll blast ya' again!" A particular Meowth yelled through a megaphone.

"Team Rocket!" Ash and May yelled in unison.

"Silence, Twerps, we're here for their Pokémon. But now that you're here we can have a bit of two-for-one action, don't you think?" James yelled, releasing Cacnea, and jumping out of the now grounded balloon.

"Let's stop them!" He yelled to his electric mouse, who proceeded to jump off the trainer's shoulder and spark its cheeks in anticipation.

"Cacnea, use pin missile!" James yelled. In response, the grass type unleashed a barrage of glowing white projectiles at the electric mouse.

"Dodge it with Agility!" Ash yelled, and on command the electric mouse erupted in a white light, moving at incredible speeds and dodging every projectile.

"Cacnea, pin missile, directly at Pikachu!" Cacnea fired again, but with the speed boost Pikachu had gained from the previous use of Agility, it easily dodged the attacks.

"This is going nowhere!" James yelled in anguish, suddenly having an idea, a wicked smile coming to his face.

"Pikachu, now use thunderbolt!" Ash yelled. Pikachu began charging the electric attack and firing it at Cacnea.

"Cacnea, jump up!" Cacnea did as told and narrowly avoided the large shock that would have came. "Now Cacnea, use Pin missile on the twerpette!"

"Cac-nea!" The creature yelled at it unleashed a third glowing barrage of white light at May, who stood there shocked that a trainer had ordered a Pokémon to attack a human. She didn't realize the severity of the situation until it was too late to run away, and stood there terrified as the attack came near.

May shut her eyes, preparing for the attack.

The attack that never came. May heard someone yell in pain, but it wasn't her. She opened her eyes and saw something that almost made her scream in terror. Ash lay on the ground, battered and bruised all over from the attack. He must have jumped in front of her to protect her. May let out a loud gasp and sob, tears forming in her eyes. She looked up to see Team Rocket floating away on the balloon, no doubt trying to avoid the consequences of injuring a citizen.

May froze, staring at Ash, unconscious and heavily injured. Tears fell freely as she tried to move but found her body out of compliance as she could only watch the horror unfolding.

"May! What happened?" May heard the voice of Brock calling out to her, with Max yelling something too. She turned to her right and watched the two boys sprinting over toward her.

"Ash...he...he went and…" May tried to say, her voice failing her when she tried.

"Oh my god, Ash!" Max screamed, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he witnesses the injuries of his friend and idol. Despite their ever so frequent arguments, Max had come to like and respect the raven-haired trainer's personality and battle style.

"We need to get to a Pokémon center, Nurse Joy can help him!" Brock yelled, dashing off to the conveniently nearby Pokémon center.

* * *

The next hour was a blur. Nurse joy and Chansey came with a stretcher and she watched as Ash was taken, walking alongside him but not feeling much of anything. It was as if the world had slowed to almost a complete halt, and she could not take in any of her surroundings as she dwelled on the thought that ash...her Ash...had gotten hurt, possibly terminally, in an effort to save her. Tears welled and fell throughout the next hour.

May found herself sitting next to an unconscious Ash in a hospital bed, her face out of tears to shed as she listened to the eerie beep of the machine connected to Ash.

Suddenly, Ash's body began to stir. May's eyes darted upward, shining and glittering with remains of hope that Ash would be alright.

"M...m-May…" Ash said, barely conscious and eyes remaining closed.

May's heart broke a little at the sound of how weak and hurt he sounded, but it swelled as she stood up and grabbed his hand, hugging him as her breathing steadied and her heartbeat returned to normal.

"Ash!" She sobbed into his chest, which rose and fell ever so slightly as his eyes remained shut. "Why? Why, why, why...why?" She said, sounding like a broken record. "Why did you jump in front of me like that? You scared me half to death!" She begged him, new tears finding a home on her cheeks.

"I-I couldn't let you get hurt May. If one of us had to be in the shape I'm in now, I'd go back and make sure it was me again."

"No Ash! You'll be okay, you'll get better! You'll-" May started, but was soon interrupted by the eerie beeping of the machine connected to ash. Surely a doctor would be able to understand the meaning of the rapidly changing numbers, figures and lines on the brightly lit screen, but to May they were nothing more than inspirations to her fear that something would go wrong with Ash.

Several seconds later May looked up to the sight of Nurse Joy rushing into the room with a Chansey right behind her. She looked worried and slightly angering May, as if she thought it was her fault. May backed away and looked down.

"I'm going to need you to leave the room for a while until I can handle this problem. You can wait right outside and I'll come and tell you as soon as you can come back in. He'll be fine, don't worry," she added, seeing the look of fear and sadness May had.

May got out of the door as soon as she could and found a chair across the hall from the room. She sat thinking about what happened; hoping that she was not to blame for the pain Ash was most definitely in right now. She sat crying in her hands as Brock and Max tried to comfort her, despite the fact that both the boys were grimly worried about Ash's fate.

What seemed like far too long to May, but what in reality was about 20 minutes, Nurse Joy came out of the room, Chansey following her.

"He's doing better now. The medicine I had to give him will put him to sleep, but it should take a few minutes if there's anything you'd like to say to him before he does." Joy said, seeing the look on Brock's face as he stared at her. She quickly turned away when the extended look of this face began to make her uncomfortable.

May hurried in, telling the boys that she'd be out in a few minutes, and she needed to talk to Ash privately. Max groaned; he had been hoping to talk to Ash just once before he fell asleep. Brock on the other hand could not control himself and had already dashed to meet up with Nurse Joy. Max sat down pouting, feeling left out of the gang.

Meanwhile, May had entered the room, to which Ash smiled.

"Hi May." He said, already starting to feel the effects of the medicine.

May felt tears returning to eyes as she grabbed Ash's hand and sat down next to him.

"Please tell me Ash, why would you get hurt like this to try to protect me?" She said, holding back a sob as she knew that Ash's injuries had proved to be substantial.

"May, I jumped because...because I'd rather be injured for the rest of my life, or even die, than have to spend a day of my life watching you be hurt by something I could have stopped. I'd do anything to keep you happy and well May, you know that. And I...I do it, because I hate it when I'm not with you May. I feel alone, like I have no one. But...with you I never feel alone, I feel something that I've never felt before...May I-" He started as he sighed involuntarily as his consciousness drifted away.

"I love you May, I always will. That's why." He said, eyes shut, before he lost consciousness.

May's heart broke. The boy she had traveled with, the boy she loved with every fiber of her being, the one who for her heart ached and fluttered, and the boy who felt the same about her...was lying before her. Lying before her, badly hurt with no guarantee of healing. And it was all her fault. She hadn't gotten him out of the way or blocked him from the attack. She didn't even move herself away; perhaps he would have had no reason to do what he did. She had hurt Ash. She hurt him, and now he was helpless.

May cried into a pillow, with one hand still holding on to Ash's, until her face ran dry and her chest ached. Soon after, Max walked in the room. May noticed this and tried to straighten herself as best she could give the circumstances, for although the situation did not look bright, she knew if her brother knew everything then he'd be in woodsy shape than her.

"May...is ash alright?" He asked his older sister. May shook her head, not saying a word, afraid to hurt someone else she loved.

"Oh my god...Ash." Max said, walking over to him, and for the first time seeing his condition."

May felt her heart break again, if such was a possibility. Max continued to loom over ash and ask May questions about what happened, each question effectively acting as a knife driven deeper into her heart, the pain becoming near unbearable as her brother reminded her of all the guilt and heartbreak she was feeling.

"Why'd you do it, Ash?" Max asked in a quiet voice, head down.

That was all May could take. The conversation that had transpired after she asked the trainer the very same question came flooding back to her. May ran out of the room crying as the horrible guilt washed over her. She ran, ran until there were no voices to listen to, ran until she could see no one, ran until she was as alone as she felt, and collapsed.

May awoke in the hospital waiting room with Brock and Max on either side of her.

Brock spoke softly. "May, are you alright? We found you lying outside near a tree."

"Yeah, I'm just a little shaken. That's all. Where's Ash?" She asked.

"Still asleep. Though Nurse Joy says the medicine will wear off soon, and when it does they can analyze the injuries and see how bad they really are." Brock said, with a look of fear on his face.

"I have to wait for him. I need to talk to him right as he gets up." May said, to which Brock nodded in agreement. May walked to the room as quickly as she could.

Max quickly got up. "Wait, I want to go too-" before he was cut off by Brock.

"This is something she needs to do alone." He said grimly. What he said was indeed true, he had noticed the trainer and coordinator's feelings for quite some time. But that isn't why he stopped Max. He was afraid. Afraid that if Max went in to see him, he would find something he wasn't ready to handle yet.

May walked into the room, noticing Ash was still asleep. She waited patiently for 15 minutes before he started to stir and his eyes fluttered, but remained shut.

"M-May..." He managed, his voice sounding scary weak.

"Oh Ash!" May said as tears fell, grabbing the trainers hand and pressing it to her forehead. "You'll be okay Ash!" She yelled, not trying to convince him, but herself.

"May, I don't feel well at all." Ash croaked. "But May?"

"W...what?" May said, fear flooding her head.

"Do-do you remember...what I told you before?"

"Oh Ash, I love you with all my heart and then some! You have to be okay! They'll fix you; I can't be alone without you!" May said unsteadily, sobbing.

"May. Thank you."

"What do you mean, Ash? You- no! No Ash, don't talk like that!" May said, now hyperventilating.

"May, it'll be ok. I love you May, be happy for me."

"No Ash, stop! We have to get!-" May yelled before hearing something.

* * *

They say that during traumatic events, the human mind tends to do whatever is necessary to prevent a catastrophic blow to the psychological aspect of a person, be it slowing of the situation, quickening, or removing it entirely from the memory.

May was not this fortunate.

May stood still, her face in shock, unable to process a single thing aside from one sound, a single note coming from somewhere. Where, she could not know. But she heard it, and it scared her. She looked around the hospital room, which now looked darker, more eerie, before looking to the sight of the long sound, a machine which was connected to ash. Slowly, her mind was able to process a single line, which could have been mistaken for an unmoving picture, but do to the changes happening around the line, it was clear that it was moving, just not up or down, across the screen.

The last thing she processed fully was Nurse Joy coming in and rushing to Ash, and Brock following, running to her. She then snapped out of the trace she was in, and knew exactly the situation.

"No, this can't be the end..." She said in a scary, monotone voice.

"May, its fine." Brock said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

No! How could you say something like that!

"No it isn't. Not now, not ever." May replied.

"No May, really, it's all okay!" Brock said, shaking her.

"How could you! You say it's all okay; you act like you don't know what is happening! Take a look around Brock, and tell me this is okay! Has he meant nothing to you all the years you've known him? Have all of his deeds been erased? It's not okay, it never will be, the world is falling apart AND YOU KNOW IT!" May screamed at the top of her lungs, before losing consciousness in front of Brock.

It will never be okay...never.

* * *

_And so ends it. Opinions on continuing? Leave them in the review. I don't have too much to say here, so..._

_~The Resident That Guy_


End file.
